Childish

44

I crawled across the bed until my knees were pressed against Naomi's side. She was wearing one of Alex's shirts with only half the buttons done. The rest wouldn't fit over her stomach. To both her and my surprise, she started to show a lot sooner than we expected. Monica said it was perfectly normal and happened to women occasionally.

I put my hand on her stomach and held my breath, waiting for the baby to move and kick me. Alex seemed to feel it every day yet I wasn't so lucky. It seemed like the baby didn't want to make an appearance for me.

I frowned after several long seconds passed by and I didn't feel a thing. It seemed that I wasn't going to feel a kick today, either.

"It'll happen, Lyla. Don't give up just yet. The baby's just resting for now."

"The baby's always sleeping when I want to feel it."

"It's hard being so popular."

I let my breath out in a huff and sat back against the pillows beside Naomi. I kicked my feet under the blanket and put my bear against my side so he was sitting in bed with us, too.

Naomi looked down at me. "You know you have to sleep in your own bed, Lyla."

"I know. I'm just staying here until Alex is done in the bathroom."

She wrapped her arm around me and hugged me to her side. "It won't be long until you're a big sister."

"But that won't last long. He'll be older and bigger than me in like two years."

She leaned down and kissed the top of my head. "Then you'll be our baby again."

Maybe that was something I could look forward to. Maybe it was the light at the end of the tunnel. Initially, I hated the thought of being a baby. I went from a sixteen-year-old girl to a baby who couldn't walk. It was a pretty severe punishment over, well... nothing but I'd come to deal with it.

"Time for bed, Lyla." Alex walked out of the bathroom, his hair still dripping water onto the floor around him.

I groaned and picked my bear up from the bed. "Do I have to?"

"What happened to just staying in here until Alex was done in the bathroom?" Naomi asked, nudging my knee.

"I'm never ready for bed. No matter what I say."

"Well, we have work in the morning."

"I don't."

"No, but you have to go to daycare. And Diane would be pretty upset with me if you showed up exhausted."

"Would that be the worst thing though?"

He shook his head and walked over to his side of the bed. "Come on, Lyla. No more arguing."

I almost looked at Naomi for help but quickly remembered that she was more on Alex's side than she was on mine. Especially when it came to the rules.

I sighed and reached out for Alex.

He held me on his hip as he walked from his room and into mine. My bunny was waiting by my pillow for me and my blankets were still messed up from when I had my nap several hours prior.

"Naomi and Monica want to take you shopping tomorrow."

I raised my eyebrows. I hadn't seen Monica in several weeks as she had been busy with her own life and I was, well, being a baby. I wasn't sure what she was up to so I was looking forward to seeing her again. But I didn't think she would hang out with Naomi. "Really?"

"Naomi wants to get some baby clothes and she asked Monica if she wanted to go with her."

"How did I get roped into it?"

"You don't want to go shopping? I don't think I've ever heard a girl say that before."

"It's not the same. I mean... I have to shop for baby clothes and it sucks."

"But that means you'll get to pick out cute clothes with animals and patterns and such."

I rolled my eyes. I couldn't have been further from liking animals or patterns on my clothing. I liked simple things and colors. Baby clothes weren't exactly made with my taste in mind.

He patted my back. "It'll be fun. I think you'll like getting out of the house for a little while."

"Yeah. I guess it'll be nice to get away from you for a few hours."

He set me down in my crib. "Really?"

I grinned. "I've been stuck with you for months now. I guess I should be glad I get any time away from you, no matter what I'm doing."

He shook his head. "And after all I've done for you."

I pulled my blanket over me and tucked my bear in my arm. "Don't throw that out there so willingly."

He continued shaking his head as he walked to the door. "Goodnight, Lyla."

I smiled and rolled onto my side, preparing myself to fall asleep. "Goodnight."